The New Murrey and Blue blog

If Becket was a turbulent priest, Roger Bacon was a turbulent scholar, philosopher, scientist and theologian. According to this article he was “….a 13th-century scholar whose contributions to science, philosophy, theology, and linguistics challenged traditional ways of thinking and paved the way for new ideas and advancements….” Well, his activities were that all right, and his name crops up time and again. The article above provides a potted biography of this “Medieval Maverick” who pushed the boundaries.

He gave the church the heebie-jeebies because his work bordered on heresy. Attempts to keep him quiet included the imposition of menial tasks, but he tired of this. Eventually Pope Clement allowed him to continue his writing, but only if he kept it secret. It was in this period that Bacon, a truly prolific writer, produced “….around a million words in less than a year, producing epic works such as his Opus Majus , Opus Minus , De Multiplicatione Specierum , and De Speculis Comburentibus….”

Clement’s death led to Bacon’s imprisonment/house arrest or so it’s believed. He eventually returned to Oxford where he seems to have spent the rest of his life studying.

To read much more about his work you really must go to the above Ancient Origins link.